Priest
:For a description of the role of priests within the lore of Warcraft, see Priest lore. For related articles, see Category:Priests. "Priests are the masters of healing and preservation, restoring their wounded allies, shielding them in battle, and even resurrecting their fallen comrades. While they have a variety of protective and enhancement spells to bolster their allies, priests can also wreak terrible vengeance on their enemies, using the powers of shadow or holy light to destroy them. They are a diverse and powerful class, highly desirable in any group, capable of fulfilling multiple roles." The priest is perhaps the best healing class in the game with a surprisingly strong damage potential as well (should the player choose to enhance this aspect of the class). Their ability to heal, avoid aggro, dispel buffs on enemies, dispel debuffs on their allies, and Resurrect fallen comrades makes them an important member of any group, whether it's PvP or PvE. A quick summary of the main things a Priest brings to a group: * Strong, efficient, fast heals * Power Word: Shield * Fortitude buff to increase Stamina of other players * Ability to control their own threat through talents * Dispel both negative spells on allies and positive spells on enemies * Resurrect Shadow Priests are one of the more efficient solo classes in the game, especially after level 40. Via talents and a targeted Spirit and Intellect build, Shadow Priests can have high, sustained DPS and incredibly high survivability with little downtime. Shadow Priests make for decent ranged DPS characters in endgame raids with very strong supportive abilities as well, but lack AoE and natural class abilities to retain mana - this can sometimes be alleviated with the use of consumables. Shadow Priests can spec for 25% threat reduction, have a highly mana efficient spell in Mind Flay, increase warlock DPS through the use of shadow vulnerability, and provide good raid flexibility as a class capable of healing and DPS as the situation requires. Shadow priest talents allow for up to a 45% increase in damage output, which is calculated after any and all bonuses from gear like all spell-casting classes. The only exception to this rule is healing spells. Unfortunately many endgame raiding guilds do not allow Shadow Priests to DPS inside an instance because they feel a Priest is better suited to Healing. Holy Priests are quite the opposite. While not as effective in damage output, there is no better healer than the Holy Priest. Players forming groups will prefer a Priest to other classes to help keep them alive. Their primary stats are Spirit for mana regeneration, Intellect for a large mana pool and crits, and Stamina for more hitpoints. Stats obtained from gear, such as Mana points/5 seconds and +damage/healing are also important. Races The Priest class can be played by the following races: Alliance * Dwarves * Humans * Night Elves * Draenei Horde * Undead * Trolls * Blood Elves Note that Priests get a couple of extra spells according to their race, see the racial spells section for further details. Weapons and Armor Priests can only wear cloth armor. Priests begin with one-handed maces and wands and can learn daggers and staves from Weapon Masters. For details on set items that are useful for priests, see Priest Sets. 'Also, Priest Loot is a new page with links to every item useful for priests in raiding. For endgame Healing Equipment go to BC healing equipment (cloth) For endgame DPS Equipment go to BC Priest DPS Equipment ' Spells holy priest.]] *Healing **Single target heals **Group heals **Heals over time **Resurrection *Holy Magic **Buffs **Dispells and Cures **Direct Damage *Shadow Magic **Direct Damage **Damage over Time **Mana Drains **Aggro Control **Mind Control *Miscellaneous **Further Buffs & Aggro control **Limited crowd control See the Priest Spells page for further details. Starting stats Talents Priest Talents are split into 3 categories: Shadow Shadow talents primarily enhance a priest's DPS. One of the most important shadow spells gained through Shadow tree talents is Mind Flay, a 3 second channeled spell that causes damage and slows the target to 50% of its movement speed. It has a low mana cost, making it one of the most mana-efficient spells in the game and is first available at level 20. The Spirit Tap talent is generally the recipient of any priest's first talent point, as it doubles the priest's Spirit and allows 50% mana regeneration while casting for 15 seconds after killing a mob. Another important talent in the Shadow tree is Vampiric Embrace, available at level 30. This shadow spell casts a debuff on a target that heals all party members for 15-25% (depending on talents) of the shadow spell damage the priest deals to it for 60 seconds. The Silence spell and its prerequisite, Improved Psychic Scream, are utility talents placed in the middle of the Shadow tree. Shadow Weaving can be useful in party and raid situations, as it causes a debuff that lasts 15 seconds, provides a 2% bonus to all shadow damage caused on the target (for example from Warlocks), and stacks up to 5 times. The debuff is applied every time the shadow priest successfully casts a shadow spell on a target, although it is subject to a separate resistance check. Another vital talent of the Shadow tree is Shadowform, which when activated gives the priest a 15% shadow spell damage bonus and 15% reduction to physical damage taken but entirely prevents the priest from casting Holy spells. (As such, Vampiric Embrace is the only option besides consumables for a priest in shadowform to heal itself.) Some other useful talents in the Shadow tree can cause a 3 second stun on a successful shadow spell cast, reduce the threat caused by shadow spells, and increase the damage the target takes from all sources of Shadow damage. The new ultimate Shadow talent, Vampiric Touch, causes a 15 second damage over time effect on the target and provides an amount of mana equal to 5% of all shadow damage dealt by the caster to all members of the caster's party while the DOT effect lasts. Discipline Discipline allows the priest to be stronger with buffs (such as Power Word: Shield and Fortitude and Inner Fire), more mana conserving, and still able to balance DPS and healing. At the end of this talent category is the spell Pain Suppression. Pain Suppression reduces damage taken from any source by 60% for 8 seconds, granting the Priest extra longevity should the enemy focus on them. Another power Discipline spell, Power Infusion grants the target an extra 20% damage and healing buff. Unlike Arcane Power in the Mage's list, this technique allows the priest to give the buff to someone else, and it doesn't have the drawback of consuming extra mana like Arcane Power. Regrettably, these two techniques do not stack. Also, added with the healing buff, a priest could use this in an intense battle to have higher healing ability. Combining this with a powerful spirit buff, the priest can go on for many battles without running out of mana, especially in instances where the priest heals. This is mainly an end-game category, and quite powerful leveling up as a priest can get an extra 5% spell critical chance as well as a permanent spell damage mod to offensive spells. There are very few priests that don't have a few points in Discipline. Holy The Holy tree increases a priest's healing ability while enhancing their survivability. The final ability is Circle of Healing, an instant heal that not only heals the target, but members of the target's party as well. Priests also have a "dying wish", which allows them to become the Spirit of Redemption and heal party members for 15 seconds mana-free. This can easily save a group from being wiped out, and can keep them alive until the enemies are defeated or the priest is resurrected by a druid in battle. Holy priests are the best healers in the game, for they can heal even when the tank fails to keep mob threat. That is, if the priest decides to forgive them. There is some limited information on Priest Talents in Priest Spells. Example talent builds for the 2.0 can be found at The Blizzard Priest Forums or wow.telenet.be's Talents section Talent builders can be found at Official Blizzard site, WorldofWar.se, WoW Vault, ThottBot, Merciless, and Wowhead Quests The two race-specific spells that priests can learn are sometimes obtained by quests. In addition, there are several more priest-specific quests for items. See the Priest Quests page for an outline of these quests. Priest Tactics :(See main page Priest Tactics for details) Priests are generally regarded as a tough class to play in PvP, but they are highly wanted in groups as the best healer in the game. They are very dependent on how their talent points are spent. A priest that spends most of his talent points in the shadow tree will be better off in PvP and solo PvE situations. The discipline and holy talent trees focus on making very strong healers, but they can still handle solo PvE situations. Priest tactics generally involve conserving mana and using heals, shields, and buffs strategically. Some priests will often try to avoid all melee contact, although a Priest should periodically engage in melee combat to build up the Defense attribute. Using Power Word: Shield allows one to develop their Defense attribute without sustaining heavy damage. A Priest should not always engage the Power Word: Shield spell, unless absolutely needed. Shield is very mana heavy, and mana saved can be used to fight more creatures before a break is needed for drink. Although, it could easily be argued that using a Power Word: Shield, while using a wand to recover mana over the course of battle, could easily save mana by not having to heal at the end of battle. End-Game Expectations Most priests will be casting Fortitude and making sure that the Main tank doesn't drop dead. You are the superstar healer, the Rogue of the Healing classes. Holy priests with some choice Discipline tree talents are often referred to as the baseline for healing against which all other healing classes are balanced. Shadow priests shouldn't fret as Warlocks love Shadow Weaving, especially to burn timed bosses like Vaelastrasz, Hakkar the Soulflayer, and Ragnaros. A Shadow Priest's Misery debuff will further increase all spell damage (trainable up to 5% more) to the target, this effect also stacks with Shadow Weaving. Shadow Priests are also useful for their Vampiric Embrace as a powerful (over 100 hp per second), group-wide heal over time in a tank, warlock or rogue/melee DPS party. Placing a Shadow Priest specced for Vampiric Touch in a caster or healer group will help with the group's mana regeneration. A single shadow priest can be a great addition to a raid as he brings versatility and unique skills. Previously bringing more than one to a raid would have hurt the raid due to the Debuff limit on targets. The new debuff cap makes it easier for multiple Shadow Priests to carry their weight without detriment to the raid, but it should be noted that a single Shadow Priest can easily keep Misery and Shadow Weaving active, and the same effects from additional Shadow Priests will not stack on the same target. Priests are more than likely going to be healers. If you do not wish to be a healer, but you still want your armor and weapons, join a raid guild. Priests and druids are the best healing classes for many reasons, and other players will expect them to heal as a large part of raiding is based on good healers. They are not asking priests to be Holy, as there are many Discipline/Holy Priests, and Shadow can be possible if the guild is not too close-minded. It is also possible, using a 61 point shadow build for end-game situations. Using Vampiric Touch and a holy paladin for example, would allow a priest to supply the paladin with near-infinite mana for healing. *Note: Lately I have received more and more invites to places like Karazhan, being a shadow priest. I would recommend, if you would like to heal well without respeccing out of shadow completely, for a 0/18/43 talent spec. All of the talents for mana reduction and cast time on heals, crit and improved renew, with none of the damage loss in shadow - just a few things handy for PvP like increased range and crits will be lost. If you want to be available to fight in a raid and grant those warlocks your shadow damage bonuses (which make them happy regarding the damage charts) as well as supporting your healers and giving back mana - or being ready to main heal a 5 man with no problem, maybe a few pieces of gear swapped out, then this is the spec for you. Joining a raiding guild not necessary. See Also See Starting a Priest for some advice when starting out. See the Priest Category for further information on the Priest class. * Site directed specifically at Priests with talent specs, help on professions, calculation sheets and lots of other things at wow.telenet.be * Some good info at the official WoW forums * Also good info at Priests Haven *Priest Leveling Guide - Helps new Priests choose their talents at early levels. Category:Classes Category:Priests